When do you need a physiotherapist?
- Admin
- 23-12-2023
- Physiotherapy
We often get asked when should I see my Physiotherapist? Traditionally physicians are the first choice to guide you to the right direction based on your injury or condition. It works perfect as long as you don’t get stuck with taking painkillers for months or often years. Few simple facts below would help you with taking the right decision on your health and treatment.
1. Understanding your injury:
This would be the most important factor in deciding what type of treatment you will need. Try to understand and differentiate musculoskeletal pain from other pain. Understand the nature of pain, when does it get worse, what are the triggers, is it always there or on and off. Musculoskeletal pain is often misdiagnosed and treated with painkillers over getting physiotherapy treatments. Fixing the actual cause is the right way over masking the pain. Do a self-assessment and see your therapist based on your findings. A trained physiotherapist will always guide you to the right treatment or send you to the physician if he/she thinks your condition is out of the scope of physiotherapy.
2. Do you need a referral from your physician?
People often believe that they have to see a physician before they see a physiotherapist. Physiotherapists are trained to asses, diagnose and treat a condition without any referral from physicians and it doesn’t have to be diagnosed by a physician. In Ontario physiotherapists are considered as primary access practitioner.
3. Muscle balancing:
We always think about getting treated when there is a pain or discomfort. As a therapist I always see people complaining about discomfort when they work out and focus on healthy life style. Why am I getting more pain when I exercise? I thought I must feel better when I exercise. This is where muscle balancing is important. Consider your body as a long pole with several strings attached and pulled to different directions. Imagine one of the strings is too tight or too loose and what will happen to the straight pole? This is what happens if your exercises are not balanced according to various muscle groups. One muscle group being too tight or loose over other groups can pull your skeletal structure towards one direction and easily create postural or structural imbalances. You don’t necessarily have to have an injury to see a physiotherapist; you can always see the therapist to optimize your muscle performance. It is all about preventing an injury and remember, prevention is better than cure.
Physiotherapists at Therapy one focus on One on One personalised care based on patient’s condition regardless of treatments on injuries or wellness care. Consider the meaning of health and wellness as performing at your best rather than feeling just okay.